Dr. Kathryn E. Stecke (MSIE ’77, PhD ’81), the Ashbel Smith Professor of Operations Management at the University of Texas – Dallas, was recently named a Distinguished Woman Scholar by Purdue’s Office of the Provost and the Susan Bulkeley Butler Center for Leadership Excellence. This award is intended to recognize the doctoral alumnae of Purdue who have made significant scholarly contributions with the hope that, in recognizing these women, an example is made and a standard set for the aspiring women scholars at Purdue today. A reception to honor Dr. Stecke and five other recipients was held in the Purdue Memorial Union on Friday, March 7.

Stecke is an internationally recognized scholar in flexible manufacturing and supply chain issues.  She speaks globally about issues related to supply chain management, operations and marketing interface issues, flexible manufacturing systems and seru, which is a Japanese organizational and production system that focuses of electronics product assembly.

While on campus to receive her honor, Kathy surprised us by making a generous deferred gift to Purdue IE to create the School's first endowment for a rising star professorship, to be known as the Prof. Kathryn E. Stecke Scholar in Industrial Engineering.  We're very grateful for Kathy's generosity and leadership in establishing this endowment.